


No Second Troy

by queenofchildren



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 2x05 Human Trials, Episode Tag, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Not Romance (Yet)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-26 14:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2655773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofchildren/pseuds/queenofchildren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Standing over the bodies of slaughtered grounders and looking from Finn's deranged smile to Clarke's slow shake of the head, Bellamy can't help but think of Helen of Troy, who never asked for a thousand ships to be launched in her name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Second Troy

The screams and gunshots are still ringing in his ears, but Bellamy hears Finn's astonished murmur, the soft voice at odds with the gun in his hand and the dead body at his feet: "I've found you.“

Bellamy's gaze is drawn from the horror of the scene around him to the horror that is Finn's expression, an amazed joy on his face that suggests he considers it _worth it,_  that seeing Clarke again is worth the slaughter of innocent people, and Bellamy's throat constricts. He's suddenly reminded of stories he's read, of beautiful women and the men who started wars for them. How many of the kings and knights and common men who have done unspeakable things have claimed to do so for the love of a woman? Now he knows that all of them were lying: this has nothing to do with love.

Clarke takes a step back when Finn advances, shaking her head. He can't see her face from where he's standing, but the people he can see, he notices, are suddenly looking at him. They are waiting for him to make a decision that he knows he'd leave to Clarke under different circumstances, but Clarke is in shock. She's still facing Finn motionlessly when the big grounder Octavia apparently knows is speaking up.

"Have you come to murder the rest of us?“ The man gets to his feet and takes a step towards Bellamy, arms outstretched as if daring him to shoot at an unarmed man. Murphy moves up behind him, gun trained on the man, and all Bellamy can think is _If this doesn't stop right now, we're all going to die_.

"No. Murphy, lower your weapon. Finn, drop that gun.“

Finn ignores him, eyes still trained on Clarke with that creepy, out-of-place expression. For once, Murphy makes the right call by stepping up and ramming the butt of his gun into the side of Finn's head. The boy goes down immediately, and at least that's one threat contained, Bellamy thinks as he turns to look at the grounder, grasping for words he knows will be inadequate.

So far, it has been easy to shoot grounders because they were nothing but shadows in the trees, bloodthirsty soldiers storming their camp, laying deadly traps in the woods and slaughtering clueless teenagers. The people before him are not like that. They're unarmed, most of the men too old or too young to fight, some of the women shielding little children with their bodies. He sees a frightened pair of eyes glimpsing up at him and hopes with all his being that none of Finn's bullets have hit a small child. Looking around the village, he sees a quaint little homestead, run-down and ramshackle, that speaks of how hard its inhabitants have to work to wrangle a life from the toxic planet. His surroundings tell him that grounders are not just killers but hunters and farmers and craftspeople and healers.

"We came to stop them. We thought you had our friends, we only just found out that the Mountain Men took them.“

"So if you had found your friends, you would have killed all of us?“

"We don't want to kill anyone!“ The exclamation is ripped from his throat because he's so tired of killing, he just wants to lay down his gun and be done with it. At the same time, he knows that the violence erupting all around him springs from a seed that he helped to plant. "We were hoping to make peace.“

The grounder's face is stony, but there's barely-contained rage behind his eyes and for a moment, Bellamy wonders if it would help if he let the man kill him. But then, death can't undo death, and he's not the type for self-sacrifice.

"I guess you should have told your friend that.“

"He will pay for this. I know we have killed your people before, but that was in battle, in self-defense. We will not tolerate the murder of unarmed civilians.“

The grounder seems unimpressed, but he nods and gestures towards Finn.

"Prove it to me. If you and your commander really don't condemn his behaviour, punish him here and now. Kill him and we will talk about peace.“

Bellamy doesn't even have to think to know he can't do it, can't even lift his gun. Not to kill a man who has so pathetically lost himself in another person as to stop caring about anyone or anything else.

***

So they run, Murphy and Bellamy dragging the half-conscious Finn, Clarke stumbling behind them and Octavia bringing up the rear with a gun, as if any one of those people still had the strength to follow them.

They flee to the only hiding-place they know, the bunker, and Bellamy can't bring himself to even look in Clarke's direction when he and Murphy haul the grounder's body out of there.

They quickly decide to take watch in shifts of two, and Bellamy takes the first guard with Murphy while Octavia runs to get water from a nearby creek and Clarke and Finn retreat into the bunker. There's a flash of worry at the thought of Finn being alone with her, but he doesn't think Finn would hurt her. Despite everything that has come undone in his head, that one thing appears to be unchanged: he cares about Clarke.

Nonetheless, Bellamy takes all possible weapons off Finn and makes it a point to check on them regularly. He's climbing down the ladder for one of these check-ups when he hears it.

"I did it for you!“

Finn sounds angry and misunderstood, but it's nothing compared to the anger Bellamy feels surging through him right now. Skipping the last rungs of the ladder, he comes to land in full view of Finn, pacing up and down before the mattress where Clarke is sitting and looking up at him with an anguished expression.

"It's your turn to keep watch, Finn.“

He hadn't intended to have Finn take a guard shift at all – calling him a wildcard would be an understatement. But he can't leave Clarke here for Finn to place the burden of those dead grounders on her shoulders. Besides, Octavia and Murphy are still out there, hopefully one of them will have the sense to keep an eye on him. He levels Finn with a stony glare, trying to project authority he doesn't have.

"Now.“

Finn hesitates for a moment before clanging up the ladder and Bellamy plops down next to Clarke on the mattress.

"Don't listen to him, Princess.“ He tries to shoot for a light tone, but the attempt fails pathetically, his voice cracking on the nickname.

"He's right though. You said it yourself, he was out looking for me.“

"And the rest of the 100.“

She shakes her head irritably.

"It was my watch that tipped him over the edge. That led them to the village, made him expect to find me there. And when he didn't.... Was that because of me too? Did _I_ do this to him?“

The tears that have been swimming in her eyes all day are finally spilling over now and she starts crying in earnest, which is an alarming sight but still better than the catatonic state she has been in all day. He pulls her close so her head comes to rest against his shoulder, because they've crossed the line from co-leadership into friendship now, and friends comfort each other. He remembers the hug they shared the day before when she ran into his arms, all hope and relief and shaky smiles, but the memory leaves a bitter taste in his mouth now. Holding a crying girl in his arms for the second time in one day, he can't help but hate this planet for bringing the strongest people he knows to their knees.

"No, Clarke, you can't think that. It's not your fault this happened. He just... he cracked. There's nothing you could have done. Don't let him turn this into some kind of Helen of Troy situation.“

"Helen who?“

He curses himself internally. _Like that comparison is going to help_.

"No one. It's just a story. I'm just saying...“ He gently pushes her away to look at her. "This is not on you. Finn's an asshole for saying it is, I know because I've done the same thing. I told Octavia that I shot the chancellor because of her, that I came down and tried to stop the Ark from following so I could protect her. She told me she never asked for that, and she was right. You never asked Finn to do this, you wouldn't. Because you know that sometimes doing the right thing may require you to sacrifice someone you love, and you were willing to do that when you closed the dropship door on him. Finn's only willing to sacrifice other people. But to do so in your name, to think you would condone that.... He can't tell me that means he loves you.“

He's getting much more agitated than he should, he realises, his voice echoing in the concrete cavern. It's just so unfair. This girl tried to keep a grounder alive who wanted nothing more than to kill her because she hoped they could make peace and save lives. That's all Clarke ever wanted to do since she set foot on this planet. Their very first fights were about her trying to keep them all fed and warm and safe, trying to keep Jasper alive against all odds, trying to save Finn. Finn has been with her through all of this, but for all his professed love he doesn't seem to have grasped that most basic aspect of her character: Clarke saves people.

She's listening with rapt attention now, which means that maybe he's getting through and chasing that particular regret from her head before it has time to latch on and fester in there.

"Other people's decisions are not your decisions, no matter how many times they may say they're doing it for you. You never listen to your mother when she says something is in your best interests, do you?“

She almost smiles at that.

"No, I guess I don't.“

"Well, there you are then. Don't let someone else tell you what's right and wrong.“

She looks a little less dejected than before but still somber. There's silence for a few moments before she shakes her head slowly, incredulously.

"I didn't believe you. When you told me about Finn executing the grounder... I didn't want to believe it. And now this...“

"I saw him kill that grounder, and still I did not see this coming. Hell, I as good as handed him that gun.“

Clarke sighs.

"Let's not play 'whose fault is it' right now, okay?“

Her voice sounds tired for a moment, but then he can see her pulling herself together. It's not a very noticeable change, just a slight tensing of the muscles, a straightening of the back, a smoothing of the lines on her face. She forgets to wipe away the traces of her tears and he is overcome with the urge to do it for her because she has wiped away his guilt so often. But before he can even lift his hand, she's getting to her feet and looking towards the exit hatch.

"What are we going to do with him?“

"I don't know. Hand him over to your mother?“

Clarke scoffs.

"I have no idea what she's going to do next. She's not much better than him, is she? She might even condone his actions. You heard her yesterday, the moment she got me back, she stopped caring about the rest. It's like caring about me makes people worse.“

"Not all people.“ He hesitates because this is really something that he only just figured out and definitely something he should not spring on her right now, but who knows, maybe it'll help. "It made me better. At least, it made me want to be better.“

She freezes for a moment, eyes going wide, and he suspects she might be afraid that means yet another loose cannon on her hands. He reaches up to squeeze her hand comfortingly.

"It's not you who's making people do crazy things, it's this place.“

She nods, and maybe that means she finally believes him. Giving his hand a quick squeeze in return, she lets go and walks over to the ladder.

"I'll take over watch for Finn. Can you keep an eye on him if I send him back down here?“

It's his turn to nod, satisfied that they've come to the same conclusion about the Finn situation without even talking about it. When her legs have disappeared up the ladder, he leans his head back against the wall. For now, he has made sure Clarke doesn't break with the events of the day. Because whatever else happens, they still have a chance as long as she's strong enough to take the lead.

**Author's Note:**

> I just rewatched 'His Sister's Keeper', where Bellamy keeps trying to pin his actions on Octavia and she calls him out on it. I have to say I love the show for deconstructing the trope of men doing terrible things to 'protect' beloved women – The 100 shows how damaging that is to everyone involved, and I can't wait to see how they'll handle this topic with Clarke and Finn. 
> 
> The title is from W.B. Yeats' poem.


End file.
